I was challenged on another thread by someone who claims Christianity, and yet harbors an outward animosity to the poor. Having studied the subject for many years, I am well aware of many of the Bible's teachings on poverty and on how we are to treat the poor. These teachings are NOT popular in the conservative church in America today, but rather have been supplanted by a me-first mentality that I consider to be downright apostate. To that end, I have compiled some verses on the bible's teachings on poverty. I will have more for you later, but wanted to put this together for your information. I chose to post it on this blogsite instead of the canning poverty blog, because I want the organization to be known as humanitarian, not as a Christian organization. While I hold my beliefs, I do not believe that a humanitarian organization should discriminate based on beliefs.

The question to be asked is not what we should give to the poor but when we will stop taking from the poor?… Charged to be stewards, we have instead become exploiters. Rather than treating the bounty of the earth as a gift for all God’s children, we have wasted its resources to profit a few.’
--Jim Wallis, contemporary scholar and founder of the Sojourners’ community in Washington DC (Call to Conversion, Lion Publishing, 1986)

Proverbs 14:31– Those who oppress the poor insult their Maker, but those who are kind to the needy honor him.

Psalms 41: 1-3 – 1 Happy are those who consider the poor;the Lord delivers them in the day of trouble. 2 The Lord protects them and keeps them alive; they are called happy in the land. You do not give them up to the will of their enemies.

Deuteronomy 15:7-8 – 7 If there is among you anyone in need, a member of your community in any of your towns within the land that the Lord your God is giving you, do not be hard-hearted or tight-fisted toward your needy neighbor. 8 You should rather open your hand, willingly lending enough to meet the need, whatever it may be.

 Romans 12:3-8 –  3 For by the grace given to me I say to everyone among you not to think of yourself more highly than you ought to think, but to think with sober judgment, each according to the measure of faith that God has assigned. 4 For as in one body we have many members, and not all the members have the same function, 5 so we, who are many, are one body in Christ, and individually we are members one of another. 6 We have gifts that differ according to the grace given to us: prophecy, in proportion to faith; 7 ministry, in ministering; the teacher, in teaching; 8 the exhorter, in exhortation; the giver, in generosity; the leader, in diligence; the compassionate, in cheerfulness.

 Proverbs 17:5 –  5 Those who mock the poor insult their Maker; those who are glad at calamity will not go unpunished.

 Proverbs 19:17 –  17 Whoever is kind to the poor lends to the Lord, and will be repaid in full.

Matthew 25:31-40 – 31 "When the Son of Man comes in his glory, and all the angels with him, then he will sit on the throne of his glory. 32 All the nations will be gathered before him, and he will separate people one from another as a shepherd separates the sheep from the goats, 33 and he will put the sheep at his right hand and the goats at the left. 34 Then the king will say to those at his right hand, "Come, you that are blessed by my Father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world; 35 for I was hungry and you gave me food, I was thirsty and you gave me something to drink, I was a stranger and you welcomed me, 36 I was naked and you gave me clothing, I was sick and you took care of me, I was in prison and you visited me.' 37 Then the righteous will answer him, "Lord, when was it that we saw you hungry and gave you food, or thirsty and gave you something to drink? 38 And when was it that we saw you a stranger and welcomed you, or naked and gave you clothing? 39 And when was it that we saw you sick or in prison and visited you?' 40 And the king will answer them, "Truly I tell you, just as you did it to one of the least of these who are members of my family,  you did it to me.'

These and many other verses make the charge to care for the poor and needy a REQUIREMENT for the obedient Christian. The value that God places on this requirement is vastly understated in many churches today; few even realize that God is recorded as having destroyed at least one city for failing to care for the poor and needy. (Sodom; Ezekial 16:49)

We live in a country in which somewhat over 80% of the population are said to claim Christianity as their faith. And yet, people go to bed hungry within our own borders. We cannot expect to end the poverty in this country, but we CAN expect to make a difference in our community and state, and hopefully eventually, the world. We MUST understand that the fate of "the least of these" is tied to our own.

respectfully submitted,

Gideon MacLeish